However, Thomas Christiansen and Victor Orta must forget about De Bock and pull the plug on that deal to bring in a left-back who would easily hit the ground running in the Championship after constantly impressing in the Premier League.

The Sun has reported that Southampton’s Matt Targett is on the verge of joining Fulham on loan until the end of the season.

Leeds must not think twice and try to hijack the London club’s advances to sign Targett, 22, who is on the comeback trail after an ankle injury ruled him out for most of the first half of the campaign.

Targett is very highly-rated with Southampton and during the earlier part of his career he was tipped to become a full England international.

However lack of chances at St Mary’s have held the Premier League left-back back, and now it is time for Leeds to bring in an attack-minded full-back who can provide support to the strikers as well as doing a solid job in defence.

After years of playing against some of the world’s top talent in the Premier League, Targett would have no problem settling into the Championship and is a clear improvement on Cameron Borthwick-Jackson.